The Internet offers many possibilities for governments and citizens to interact with each other. It may enhance democratic governance and democratic policy making as it provides new channels for political communication and public services, enables new forms of democratic decision making (e.g. liquid democracy) and is utilized to organize political participation. However, we still do not know which institutional, contextual and organizational factors shape the application and the success of e-governance and e-participation. Therefore, this panel will address the following questions: How is the Internet used to include citizens and to improve governance in different countries and contexts? Which concepts of e‐participation and e‐governance are tested, and to what effects? What kind of outcomes as well as limitations can we observe?